Does Tyrell Really Love Elliot?

In the heat of the night, caught up in the excitement and confusion of the Season Two Finale, even though Tyrell had just shot Elliot, I kinda thought his words “I love him” could be because Tyrell was still going to turn out to BE Elliot.

But sleeping on it (for over three weeks now!) that theory is outta the window, so why did the barrel-chested Swedish psycho tell Angela on the phone that he loves Elliot?

Well, without further ado, here’s Mr Robot Hacks take on things!

Despite that fact that we’ve seen Tyrell having sex with another man, it didn’t even cross my mind that he said “I love him” in the traditional sense of the word, but we’ve gotta investigate all angles, so…

Could Tyrell be in love with Elliot?

“Tyrell Wellick, I’m Vice President of Technology.”

If you argued that it was love at first site for these two, I didn’t see it at the time… but they’ve definitely had their fair share of shared smoldering looks since the day they met that fateful day at Allsafe.

“Elliot. Just a tech.”

Looking back, I think it’s safe to say that the show has been playing on this; Tyrell always uses any opportunity he can to place his hands on Elliot; Tyrell’s hands on his shoulders while giving him a pep talk is par for the course and he’s even grabbed his face once or twice, which USA Network knowingly included in their promotional material:

But steering away from homo-eroticism and back to the real, canon universe in which Tyrell loves Elliot, these excellent fan-made videos which hark back to season one still highlight a level of love I just didn’t see coming. Most of the smoldering looks seem to be coming more from Tyrell than from Elliot… but then they do both seem to line up for a kiss.

Take a look if you don’t believe me!

But Tyrell’s married to the most beautiful woman on the planet!

Well, although the only reason he picked up Anwar at the gay club was to clone his phone, Tyrell certainly seemed to put more effort into sex with another man than he does with his wife, which he almost treats as a chore… Joanna is stunningly good looking, without a shadow of a doubt but she’s too damned calculating and… robotic to be sexy.

Anything you say, love!

The Wellicks treat sex as a Machiavellian means to an end. With other people, it’s a way to get the power they want and with each other for the perverse pleasure of getting their rocks off. I mean, do you think there’s any real love here?

Is Elliot gay?

Come to think of it, while we’ve seen Elliot kiss Angela, fall in love with Shayla and try to kiss his own sister – he could be bisexual too; being the brilliantly modern, diverse, inclusive show that it is, Mr Robot could definitely feature two bisexual main characters.

Plus, he’s loved Angela since they were kids

On this topic, Elliot, Tyrell and Joanna all seem kinda a-sexual to me. That probably sounds weird so let me explain: we’ve seen Tyrell’s sadomasochistic sexual habits with Joanna and there’s no real passion there and Elliot, well… our Elliot just doesn’t seem that interested in sex.

Even if Tyrell’s love for Elliot does become the silly old-fashioned type of love… personally, I don’t think it’s about gay or straight or bisexuality –
I think his love goes far, far deeper than that…

What you talkin’ bout, Willis?

Ever since the two met, Tyrell has seen that Elliot is unlike other people and treated him as special, hell the end of the very first episode saw him bring Elliot into his inner circle of The Illuminati (or at least the movers and shakers)

Tyrell has been successful, he has seen real power in the western business sense. He fired people and took away their benefits while laughing, he has throttled the life out of a human life (not that that is power, but he’ll no doubt have seen it that way) but Elliot has awoken him to a higher purpose.

Bonsoir, Elliot

On the telephone, Tyrell referred to the night of the hack as “The night we became Gods” and this, I believe is not mere hyperbole.

Under the rollercoaster at Coney Island, a more desperate Tyrell Wellick demands answers before almost begging to be part of Elliot’s plan and life; saying he believes in fate and he believes there is a reason they met, even “there’s something between us, I can see it.”

Love on a roller coaster, living it up when you’re going down

But he was still a lost little lamb. Elliot replies “You’re only seeing what’s in front of you. You’re not seeing what’s above you.” Soon, the gray clouds that symbolize Tyrell’s confusion are replaced with a shaft of sunlight. Only then does Tyrell seem to find some kind of peace. A message from God?

Before, Tyrell only wanted power – the old school, boring, Phillip Price border-defining, land accruing power. But now, in his new, enlightened state, he thinks that by working with Elliot, he can save the world, become a god and possibly become immortal along the way.

By the time Tyrell utters “This is Mount Olympus. We are prime!” he wants to be ONE with Elliot. Intertwined, not as lovers but as an idea.

A force whose name will forever go down… in history.

But since it’s Tyrell, he’s probably still doing it for selfish reasons so he can be worshiped. Unlike Elliot who, despite all his problems, wants to make the world a better place. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

The power and the money, the money and the power, minute after minute, hour after hour…

Money, power, success, seemingly great career, beautiful wife (on the outside) and family couldn’t provide Tyrell with the fulfillment or answers he was after. He still ended up lost and confused but Elliot provides the meaning that Tyrell has been searching for his whole life.

It may be a person. It may be a calling. Some of us find it, some of us don’t but when you see it, you gotta follow your bliss.

This is the reason Tyrell tells Angela “I love him” on the phone. Elliot is the connection he needs and craves to become complete.

He knows Elliot is special, that he is, in some way, the master of this crazy universe that we tune into every week. Our job is to figure out what’s so crazy about their world…

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6 thoughts on “Does Tyrell Really Love Elliot?”

I agree with this article and I stopped taking tyrell seriously in that sad pic after “The power and the money, the money and the power, minute after minute, hour after hour…” wtf man? That made me laugh for like three minutes.
Anyways, the important thing is… I ship it xD

I feel like Tyrell and Elliot knew each other before the meeting we see on screen. Why else would Tyrell say ‘Don’t be so humble’ if he didn’t already know Elliot was more than normal. I think Tyrell knew Mr. Robot and has been interacting with him off-screen, which may be where this relationship started to bloom. When Tyrell says he loves Elliot, he actually loves Mr. Robot. But he doesn’t know that Mr. Robot is a personality inside Elliot’s head. To me, Tyrell doesn’t seem the type to be interested in socially awkward Elliot in any sense, romantic or otherwise, but Mr.Robot on the other hand…

100%. Mr Robot did meet with Tyrell before that first encounter, it’s Elliot that got left out.
And you’re right, Tyrell is obsessed with the overwhelming genius and eccentricity of Mr Robot, but not so much Elliot. Now I hope the season 2 finale merged the 2 personalities together (of course, assuming Elliot makes it, cuz you know, he’s the protag and all, no big deal) with that bullet. One can only hope. And also, I hope Elliot will have a change of mind about the whole thing. I kinda wanna see them working together a.k.a i ship them, either in front of computer screens or in bed, i ship them i ship them i ship them.

Seriously. Of course all that stuff about Tyrell searching purpose and fulfillment and believing Elliot is special is true, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is – obviously – madly in love. In a gay way. No passion missing when he is near Elliot.

Tyrell is in love with Elliot in a gay way – and all the other ways for all those other reasons – that’s why he can’t shoot Elliot without a flood of sobbing tears, why Elliot can induce the same sobbing in Tyrell in the roller coaster scene. Tyrell loves Elliot and is madly in love with Elliot in every way.